Small Businesses Still Lost in Social Media

Web-based aggregator apps can help businesses keep tabs on Facebook, Twitter, and morebut only if they already have their social media footing.

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While many businesses have developed a strategy for using social media, many more are still fumbling in the dark. How can business owners join, update, and respond to users on Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare, Yelp, CitySearch, blogs, and other socially-driven sites while still managing their day-to-day operations? The task seems daunting before you've even started.

A panel discussion in New York today brought together four small restaurant owners and one food writer who explained how they use and manage sites like Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, Yelp, and CitySearch. Surprisingly, not all the panelists spoke with great enthusiasm for the social sphere. These entrepreneurs have been in business for several years, since before social media exploded in popularity, so they remember what it was like before it became necessary to be online a lot.

Kenny Lao (shown above, center), who owns the successfully connected Rickshaw Dumpling Bar and Truck in New York City, sees online social interaction between business and customers as necessarybut not as a traditional advertising tool. "I think [online conversation] is something customers demand," he said. "Customers want openness, information, and dialogue, and when a business is involved in its online conversations, it can better control what's being said.".

Zak Pelaccio (shown above, far right) of the less-connected yet much-lauded Fatty Crab restaurant (and a few other eateries wearing the "Fatty" brand), takes a more laid back view of social networking. Foursquare, he says, goes too far and "seems strangely obsessive," with people needing to connect and have a sense of belonging all the time. Pelaccio admits to joining Twitter very latehe's only been on a few weeks. He also has no idea who the "mayor" of Fatty Crab is (it's Anais M. of New York), nor has he ever claimed any of his Foursquare venues. But Pelaccio also says he's only just starting to understand and use social media in his personal life.

Social Media Aggregator YourBuzz
Sponsoring the panel discussion was American Express OPEN, which also promoted a free Web-based app aimed at helping SMBs take control of social media chatter. Called YourBuzz, the tool is a social media aggregator, along the lines of TweetDeck and HootSuite. It pulls information from various social media profiles and accounts that business owners might use into one place, so they can easily keep tabs on their Yelp reviews and Facebook page. Users can set up alerts to let them know when other people are talking about their business. YourBuzz also lets users respond to the chatter from within the interface, rather than asking them to go to the social network or site every time they want to post a reply or update their status.

The app's dashboard provides additional information about who's interested in the business, such as the gender breakdown and geographic location of followers and fans. It aggregates reviews of the business and shows an overall star rating based on the average. Another function that's useful for SMBs is the ability to register the business address and phone number. The software will then compare the correct listing to other ones found online, letting the business owner correct any misinformation that's out there. Currently, it integrates with Facebook accounts and fan pages, Twitter, Foursquare, Foursquare Venues, Yelp, Bing, Yahoo!, CitySearch, and Superpages.

When are Aggregators Not Useful?
Social media aggregator apps like YourBuzz can be extremely beneficial to businesses that already understand how to tweet, have already claimed their Foursquare venue, and actively share information to hundreds or thousands of Facebook fans. In other words, the tool works great if there's online buzz to manage. However, it can't help businesses that are still testing the water, unsure of how or when to take the social media plunge, worrying that it's too late to join, or asking what an "at reply" or "retweet" is.

Audience members who asked questions at the close of the talk seemed more confused by social media than the most casual tweeter on the panel. Some asked "Where do I start?" and "What should I tweet?" and "Should I find a publicist to do this for me?" Others believed that a Twitter account would be better managed by a very young person, perhaps because they don't know the average age of a Twitter user is nearly 40. These very rudimentary questions further support the point that an aggregator tool is only useful to businesses that already understand the sites they aggregate.

Hope is in the Followers
Businesses that worry about setting up a social online presence should focus on what they have to gainfollowers and fans, and not just the virtual kind. Alan Sytsma of New York magazine's Grub Street, who moderated the panel, raised the point that an online presence allows proponents of a business to rally around it. Users socialize with businesses online when they already like the product or have yet to try the product, but are headed in with high and positive expectations.

Lao of Rickshaw Dumpling added that social media conversations between other usersas well as between business owners and customersprepare the customer for the experience they're about to have. Additionally, when Lao talks online with his customers and asks for opinions, he says they feel greater ownership of the business when their feedback is heard and acted on.

Customers who have a sense of ownership or stake in the business become repeat customers and bring their friends along, too. Panelist Paul Liebrandt (shown above, second from far right), of the two-Michelin starred restaurant Corton, believes the same thing can happen when you use social media as a person driving the business. Tweeting from a personal account rather than the business account "gives people insight into who you are" as the person behind the business. It also lets you share your rationale for the business decisions you make, which can foster more empathy among customers and clients. Francis Lam (second from far left), a food writer from Gilt Taste also on the panel, added, "The more they feel engaged with the experience, the more they enjoy cthe experience."

Jill Duffy is a contributing editor, based in Washington, D.C., specializing in productivity apps and software, as well as apps and gadgets for health and fitness. She writes the weekly Get Organized column, with tips on how to lead a better digital life. Her book, Get Organized: How to Clean Up Your Messy Digital Life is available for Kindle, iPad, and other digital formats.
She also spoke at TED@250, a salon-style conference at TED.com headquarters, about how to better and more sanely manage email.
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